Old Norse Baby Names

Picture the god Thor and his thunderous hammer… From the lands of present Scandinavia comes the naming tradition of Old Norse – the language of Viking Age, Norse sagas, mythology and Scandinavian folklore!

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Closely related to Old English, Old Norse is a North Germanic language once used by Germanic tribes in Northern Europe. This was the language of Norse sagas – telling magical stories about Scandinavian and Germanic history, Viking voyages a battles, Norse mythology and paganism. Together with various dialects, Old Norse was used in many regions, including present territories of Scandinavian countries, Scotland, Ireland, England, Wales, Isle of Man, Normandy and Vinland. As a part of the Indo-European language family and originally writing in runic alphabet,Old Norse gave rise to many present languages, such as Icelandic, Faroese, Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish. With such variety of language potential, the ancestry of Old Norse gives parents all over the world the chance to choose a child’s name rooted in Scandinavian folklore, of profound etymology, and linguistically established through time.